Hour 3

US ATMs are being attacked by 'Jackpotting' hack, celebrities have been buying social media followers, starting a profitable YouTube cooking channel, adding Android apps to the Chrome desktop, reinstalling Windows after a hard drive failure, best ToDo list apps, using Android Auto on your smartphone, photographer Chris Marquardt talks about a new cryptocurrency created by Kodak, and more of your calls.

Guests

Audience Questions

Audience QuestionsHour 1

Tim's friend wants to start up a YouTube Channel and wants to know how to make money off of it. Leo says that is a very good idea to get the word out about her cookie business. YouTube is a visual medium and so is cooking. YouTube has become the destination for all kinds of cooks who are using the portal to showcase recipes, techniques, and more. The more visually entertaining and informative it is, the more popular. They'll also want to be sure that each episode doesn't last very long.

A good example is Buzzfeed's Tasty channel. Their videos are about 4 minutes long and they've become the standard. Even Food Network has started copying the format. They're shot from the top down, sped up a bit, with titles for each step, and with a catchy tune. So in 3-4 minutes, someone should know all the steps.

Then they can share links on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If the episode is catchy enough, they'll be shared and retweeted. New content is vital, so they should be consistent and have new videos at least once a week. Once a day would be ideal. They'll want to make sure they encourage readers to like, share, subscribe, and enable notifications.

Philip says that after a Windows 10 update, two of his HP laptops won't let him view multiple tabs anymore. It's all full screen. The only way to go back and forth is to click on a "task view" button and select a smaller window to "activate." Leo says there are gesture controls that nobody knows about in Windows 10 and chances are good that Philip accidentally activated "tablet mode." In the lower right-hand corner, there's a quote box. Philip should click on that, and disable "tablet mode." Leo says that Microsoft has been trying to force people to treat their computers more like tablets, and it's horrible. Here's an article on HowToGeek on how he can get out of it.

Sherry still uses an old Nokia flip phone. She bought an older Motorola Moto X, but she's concerned that it won't be updated. Leo says that they are probably not being updated since it's several years old, but it's probably safe to use. She'll want to install any patches that are available for it, but Android Nougat is the end of the line for that phone, which is fine. She just shouldn't download any strange applications for it, and only get apps from Google Play.

Audience QuestionsHour 2

Mark has a Remix Mini that's not being updated anymore, and he wants to know if he can install Android apps like a Chromebook. Leo says that most of the apps will be touch-based and if he doesn't have a touchscreen, he may not be able to use them. Using a program called REMIX could work, but the app has to be written to support it.

Acer makes a good, affordable Chromebook, so that could be the answer. But the Acer ChromeBox 3 is the latest desktop version and it supports the Android store. It was just announced at CES.

David bought a refurbished computer from Best Buy. It turned off when the battery died, and when he turned it back on, Windows wanted to do a repair. When it did that, it started wiping out his entire Windows 10 operating system. Now he's stuck on the blue screen of death and he's worried that his version of Windows 10 won't activate if he reinstalls it. Leo says it will, but before he installs anything, he should get the data from it. If it crashed once, the drive could be ready to fail. He should take the disc out and connect it to another computer to examine the disk and recover the data.

Leo also says he can bring it back to Best Buy and have them get his data and install a new drive. It won't be very expensive, and he can even replace that drive with an SSD.

Donna has been subscribed to MSN's Butterfly service and she's having connection issues. Leo says that Microsoft would like her to move away from MSN and start using Outlook.com as her email. She could also use Gmail and just forward it. Leo also suspects that Microsoft is reselling service through her cable company. She can then use Gmail to go get her MSN mail and then tell everyone she's using Gmail so she can slowly transition to it.

Leo says that moving over to Outlook, and keeping MSN's address is the first step. MSN uses the IMAP protocol, so she can put in the MSN server name and login information to her Google forwarding settings and then she can get to it.

Audience QuestionsHour 3

David is into making to-do lists, but he doesn't want to waste paper to print them up. Is there a template or app that would enable him to access it from his mobile device? He'd also like to use it cross-platform. Leo says Remember the Milk is a great way to do that. ToDoIst and Microsoft OneNote are other good options.

Dolly is retired and wants to invest in the stock market while traveling, but some of her brokerages don't support using smartphones. Leo says that there may not be an app to run, but she may be able to access her accounts using the phone's browser. What Dolly may have to do is select the "choose desktop" option. Leo also says that using a tablet like an iPad would be a better option since she'd have a bigger screen. She can also look to see if they have an app since many of the big companies do. TD Ameritrade, for instance, has an app, as does Schwab and Fidelity. Another option is to use a mobile Wi-Fi device like a MiFi card and she can use anything from a phone to a laptop, and access it anywhere.

Don is having issues with Malwarebytes. Leo says that if he's experiencing issues with Malwarebytes, there's a good chance that he's been infected. The first thing a malware creator will do is disable online security software and prevent access to those sites in the browser. That's one of the reasons why Leo doesn't like third party antivirus apps. Leo recommends using Microsoft Security Essentials/Windows Defender.

Scott just switched from Windows Phone to Android, the LG G30. Leo says that's a great phone, but Scott wants to know if it has a hands-free driving mode. Leo says it's not in Android itself, but they have an app that will run on the phone to do it. Leo says it's called Android Auto. It'll give him a completely hands-free experience and he can enable auto launch to take over the second he turns on the car.

Rene is having trouble updating Windows. It stalls out at 80%. He then reboots and it goes back to before he tried updating. Then he gets a blue screen and he can't restore or update. Leo says that not an unusual problem. If you think about it, with millions of computers, there's going to be a certain percentage that will experience issues like this, and updating while a computer is running is nontrivial. It could be something is blocking it, like a third-party antivirus app. It could also just be a bad download. Or this could be the Intel Spectre/Meltdown fix that is causing problems. Rene will probably have to reinstall Windows using the Recovery option, but he may have to wipe the drive and start over. That will mean losing data. This is why Leo says to buy a Chromebook instead.

This Week in Tech News

There's a huge security flaw in WINRAR, that will enable hackers to take over your computer. So Leo advises that if you use WINRAR to zip/unzip your files, that you should update to the latest beta version. But you have to go to the WINRAR site and manually download the update. There is no automatic update.

Accusing Apple of anti competitive behavior, Spotify's music streaming service says that the company charges a 30% commission for subscriptions through the Apple store, while charging 30% less for their own music service.

Leo bought the Samsung Galaxy S10+, a phone with 10TB of storage, 12GB of RAM, and a ceramic back. For $1500. Leo says it's a really nice phone. Reviews are mixed, but buyers seem to like it, with preorders doubling the last generation. Samsung has avoided "the notch," but instead, they have a "hole punch," which houses two selfie cameras. Is that any different than the notch? Not really. It's also nearly as big as the Note 9 and has the best screen on the market. But Leo says it's so fast that it's hyper-responsive. It reacts to being touched on the edge. It also has three cameras on the back. It also has an under-screen fingerprint ID, which isn't very fast and requires a little patience. AND IT HAS A HEADPHONE JACK!

In a new announcement, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook is moving towards a more privacy-focused experience, including encryption, private groups, and more. Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook doesn't have a reputation for security and privacy, and they plan to change all that. With sharing on Facebook going down by 25%, especially with younger users, Zuckerberg says that the social media network is going to move from a town square, to your own living room. It's a serious PIVOT. Leo says that Zuckerberg has made promises like this before, so we'll have to wait and see what happens. Is it possible to have a privacy-focused Facebook? Only time will tell, but Leo says it's a good idea.